Whether it’s yoga class or a pre-workout warm-up, stretching has become an accepted practice when it comes to preventing injury.  However, even those of us who know better can always find ourselves with less time than we’d like for physical activity, and when we’re pressed for time, stretching is usually the first thing to go.

The result is more than just reduced performance in our activity of choice; by failing to stretch properly, we are putting ourselves at risk for injury.  Stretching all of the major muscle groups at least twice a week can help prevent injury and increase mobility, according to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), which is why chiropractors make regular stretching a key part of any wellness regimen.

The Chiropractic Connection to Stretching

Here’s a crash course in chiropractic medicine for you: as part of the normal wear and tear of daily life, as well as accumulated trauma caused by illness or physical injury, the neck and spine are regularly subject to getting pushed out of alignment.  Apart from causing incredible back pain, these misalignments pinch nerves that run throughout the body, which can result in pain and reduced function in any or every major bodily system (these pinches are called subluxations).

While it’s not possible to entirely remove the risk of subluxations occurring, it is possible to strengthen the muscles needed to prevent them from arising in the first place.  In particular, stretching the muscles in the core, back, and neck regularly—for even a few minutes at a time, two or three times a week—can help prevent misalignments that lead to further injury.  And of course, stretching also prevents injury in larger muscle groups.  Win-win!

Dangers of Improper Stretching

As beneficial as stretching can be, it must be kept in mind that stretching is only helpful so long as it is done correctly; if stretches are performed improperly, it can pull the body into unnatural, uncomfortable postures that put increased strain on the joints and muscles.  By stretching too deeply or incorrectly, you can even damage important tissues or prolong injury.  Consult your chiropractor or functional medicine practitioner for counsel on the correct stretches for your physical ability and medical history to make sure you’re helping, not hurting yourself!

 

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It’s a sad fact that arthritis is an inevitable part of life (for those of us lucky enough to live to middle age, at least).  A broad condition encompassing multiple causes and complicating factors, arthritis is a chronic condition characterized by inflammation of the joints.  Affecting hundreds of millions worldwide, symptoms of arthritis can range from discomfort, stiffness, or tingling to pain so severe that it can make even daily activities impossible.

Arthritis is an incurable, irreversible condition, and its onset means years of suffering and difficulty.  However, even if arthritis can’t be cured, its symptoms can be managed.  For the conventional medical model, this means a lifetime of prescription painkillers.  Which is good enough for the pharmaceutical industry, maybe, but offers considerable risks for questionable reward.

Fortunately, there is another way: depending on the exact nature of a patient’s arthritis, functional medicine practitioners can synthesize generations of traditional medical wisdom with current scientific advances to provide an all-natural alternative treatment in the form of nutritional supplements.  By staying true to the medical maxim “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” these supplements are the best way to let the body restore its equilibrium and reduce or prevent arthritis pain with no risk of side effects or addiction.

1. Turmeric

A staple in Asian medicine and cuisine for millennia, turmeric is a yellow root that is related to ginger.  Turmeric has natural anti-inflammatory properties, which is why it is typically a key ingredient in Ayurvedic medicinal practices.  According to the Mayo Clinic, curcurmin (the active compound in turmeric) can greatly help the body achieve balanced functionality and recover from injury or illness.

2. Boswellia

Another important ingredient in Ayurvedic medicine, boswellia—commonly known as Indian frankincense—has long been used in the treatment of chronic conditions including osteoporosis, asthma, dysmenorrhea, and of course, arthritis.  Also effective as a topical, boswellia is most helpful for natural treatment of joint pain taken as a nutritional supplement, and patients report increased mobility and reduced pain when taking this supplement.

3. Omega-3 Fatty Acids

The medical benefits of omega-3 fatty acids have only recently become widely-known, but it is clear that these substances can offer incredible healing and wellness for arthritis sufferers.  Most people are unable to get sufficient omega-3 fatty acids in their diet incidentally, which is why concentrated supplements can be a boon.

4. Glucosamine / Chondroitin

A naturally-occurring component of the body’s cartilage, supplemental glucosamine (also called chrondroitin) can be found naturally in shellfish.  Taking glucosamine or chrondroitin supplements helps the body repair its cartilaginous components to support its joints, removing inflammation and restoring mobility.

5. Vitamin C and Collagen

Though these substances are most famous for helping treat skin damage and wrinkling, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and collagen are also anti-inflammatory, which is why they are an important component of any all-natural arthritis treatment.

 

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The word “miracle” gets thrown around a lot when it comes to supplements, usually with big, impossible promises.  In the case of fish oils, though, no other term really does them justice.  Not bad for rather unassuming compounds that one can find in humble sea creatures like mackerel, salmon, tuna, and herring!

Fish oils go by many names, though by far the most common for the active compound in these substances is “omega-3 fatty acids.”  The body doesn’t produce omega-3 fatty acids, nor can it produce them from similar compounds such as omega-6 fatty acids.  Despite that, the human body craves fish oil and thrives when it is present, as the substance provides a host of benefits that promote overall health; this is why fish oils are a cornerstone of any effective, sustainable wellness plan prescribed by a chiropractor or functional medicine practitioner.

Benefits of Fish Oils

Frankly, it’s difficult to find an area of bodily function where fish oils don’t help.  As they are a natural anti-inflammatory, regular intake of fish oils lowers inflammation throughout the body, helping the body treat chronic pain such as that caused by arthritis.  Anti-inflammatory substances such as fish oil also improve overall cardiovascular health and restore function to muscles or tissue suffering from trauma or subluxations.

Some of the other benefits of fish oils include:

• Improved brain and nervous system function (fish really is “brain food!”)
• Reducing muscle pain or soreness
• Treatment of skin conditions such as psoriasis
• Lowering high blood pressure, triglycerides, and cholesterol
• Weight loss and improved functional strength

Fish Oil Supplements

Though it is possible to get all the fish oils that a body needs through careful eating, that requires an incredibly seafood-heavy diet, and unless you are extremely selective about sourcing their seafood, eating that much fish can open you up to increased risk of exposure to mercury and other toxins.

Instead, chiropractors and functional medicine practitioners regularly prescribe their patients fish oil supplements.  These are all-natural, completely safe nutritional supplements created through a molecular distillation process that results in 100% pure fish oil, without any adulterants.

There is a variety of fish oil supplements available, and it can be difficult to know where to start when first introducing these supplements to your diet.  Since every body has different needs, consult your functional medicine practitioner or nutritional counselor to find out how to get your body what it needs for overall health.

 

Questions about Nutrition and Consuming Fish Oils?

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Like most of our body’s functions, we don’t give our blood pressure much thought unless there’s something wrong.  Unfortunately, high blood pressure (also called hypertension) can exist in the body for years without exhibiting any symptoms until reaching a moment of crisis.  The sad result of this is that, for most people, the only warning they get that they have dangerously high blood pressure is when disaster strikes in the form of heart attack, stroke, or aneurism.

The main takeaway from this is to get your blood pressure checked annually.  But there’s another lesson here, too: rather than wait for your blood pressure to increase until the danger’s at your door, there are many things that can help you keep your blood pressure at a healthy level.  In addition to getting proper exercise and eating healthy, recent medical research has uncovered a previously-unknown link between chiropractic medicine and heart health.

The Chiropractic Connection

To put it simply, blood pressure is under the control of the nervous system, and there’s a strong connection between the brainstem, the upper cervical spine (C1-C2), and blood pressure.  The vagus nerve is in the lower part of the brainstem (the medulla oblongata), and it affects unconscious functions within the body…including, critically, the rhythm and contraction of the heart!

Because of this connection through the nervous system, subluxations in the upper cervical (neck) region of the spine can have an effect on the vagus nerve.  In other words, trauma or misalignment within the upper spine can reduce the functionality of the part of the brain that keeps your blood pressure in check, leading to spikes in blood pressure or even contributing to heart failure.

What Chiropractic Medicine Can Do for Your Blood Pressure

Fortunately, treating misalignments in the spine and neck are what chiropractic medicine is all about.  Adjustments to the T1-T2 area can help affect the sympathetic nerves that go to the heart that are involved in rising blood pressure, adjusting this area can dampen the signal overload resulting in lowering blood pressure. Between the direct connections of nerve fibers to the heart and the vagus nerve coming off the brainstem, keeping these pathways in check in help lower blood pressure overall considering that the high blood pressure is in part related to subluxations or poor communication of the nervous system as a result of chronic misalignments.

Considering the risks associated with high blood pressure, neglecting this brain-body connection can be disastrous.  Especially if any risk factors associated with hypertension apply to your lifestyle—smoking, obesity, stress, regular drinking, or suffering from another chronic illness—seeing a chiropractor can be a real lifesaver!

 

Questions about Maintaining Healthy Blood Pressure?

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The post The Chiropractic Secret to Maintaining Healthy Blood Pressure appeared first on Chiropractor Panama City.

This Article appeared first on The Bay Doctor Website

With rising obesity, more and more Americans are facing myriad health problems which can be easily prevented or even reversed if a sustainable weight loss regimen is followed. If you are looking for weight loss programs in Panama City, Fl. you get an added edge at Bay Clinic of Chiropractic in Panama City Fl. You get the firsthand experience in going through a program which is not just fitness and diet routine but one which takes the entire body into consideration. Sounds too good to be true?So let’s take a look at how it works.

A truly effective weight loss program is one which is done holistically. With weight loss treatment at Bay Clinic you will get just that. These are safe, drug free approaches to losing weight and tackling obesity by focusing on various health and wellness methods. The focus is not just weight loss but the overall healing of the body.

Weight loss treatment is a multifaceted approach which offers more than a temporary fitness routine. It includes nutritional guidance, lifestyle and behavior modification as well as regimented physical activity. Before they do this physicians do a complete evaluation of your current lifestyle, physical and nutritional needs, and the state of your system. This may differ from one individual to the other so there is no generalized treatment bit a systematic one on one approach which heals each person differently. Therefore for the doctors too every patient is a new earning experience making their expertise deeper and richer than other fields.

 

Weight loss treatment in Panama City, Fl. – How it works ?

The weight loss programs begins with a thorough examination of the body to determine how the system is functioning or if there are any underlying ailments that is slowing the body. With the results in hand, we can then determine what the treatment strategy should be. This differs from patient to patient which shows how personal and one-on-one the holistic approach is.

A key focus is spinal manipulation which takes the pressure off the spinal cord, improves flexibility and helps in easy absorption of essential nutrients.All of which greatly aid in weight loss.

Physical therapy and massage loosens the limbs and aids in weight loss. It reduces stress even mental stress thus providing a much needed emotional clarity which you need for following a strict weight loss regime. It also makes you feel good which leads to overall health and well-being.

Clinical nutrition then steps in here to formulate a focused diet which along with regular set of exercises will lead to steady but stable weight loss. Remember this is not a onetime treatment but a slow and steady one where your doctor will not abandon you but hand hold you through the entire process. Every step is monitored and every progress is encouraged and lauded motivating patients to put in extra efforts.

The most common diet followed by chiropractors is the Ideal Protein® Weight-loss Method which was founded in France by Dr. Tran TienChanh two decades ago. A good holistic healer applies his recommendations on this diet to suit individual patient needs.

In some cases, patients are also administered herbal supplements to aid in their diets. This is done after they have undergone a series of tests. If imbalances are found in the system in terms of nutrition or physical ability, chiropractors first take care of them. Before you subject your body to a new routine make sure there is no underlying condition that will hamper this effort. Body should be completely healed and functional to get the best out of these weight loss treatment programs.

Source: Advanced Weight Loss Programs